Between Now and Then
by MusicTeacher-gLeek
Summary: Dr. Brown never expected her to show up in the doorway of his clinic, and he never expected Ephram would want her to stay. Chapter 4 now posted!
1. The Storm

Title- Between Now and Then

Author- BevandDavidFan aka Theresa Disclaimer- I don't own many of the characters, the WB is way smarter than me.

Timeframe- This happens sometime between the first and second season.

Characters- Everyone plus my own character, Angel Daniels.

Very Important Authors Note: I have decided to make a drastic change in the events leading up to this fan fiction. _In my fan fic, Colin's first surgery was unsuccessful and he is still in a coma. _

Chapter One- The Storm

Dr. Andy Brown had had an especially hard day at the office. Edna had left hours ago, but he was still there, cleaning things up. It was storming, and every once in awhile the lights flickered. He didn't notice her standing in the doorway until the lights flickered once again and she gasped, frightened.

"Can I help you?" He said, looking at the girl in front of him.

"Are you Dr. Brown?"

"Yes, I am."

Andy looked at her, really looked. She had long, dark brown hair. Piercing gray-blue eyes. She was tall, but not really tall, with a small frame. He didn't want to believe it was her.

"My name is Angel Daniels."

Angel looked at him, his brown beard that was slowly fading to gray. His eyes so like her own. She noticed the picture on his desk, his kids she presumed. The boy was close to her age, and seemed to have the same features as herself. The girl was younger, but you could still see the resemblance.

"Do you know who I am?"

"How could I not know? From the minute you walked in I knew." He stared in disbelief.

"My parents died. They sent me here."

After years of wondering, there she stood. Right in front of him. She spoke again.

"So, what are we going to do?"

"I guess we're going home."


	2. Homecoming

Chapter Two- Homecoming

When they walked in the door, he was standing there. The boy in the picture.

"Hey Dad where...were you." His eyes darted from his father to her.

"Ephram, this is Angel. Angel, Ephram." Andy introduced them.

After a few minutes of awkward silence, she spoke up. "Where will I be sleeping tonight?"

"Spare bedroom." Andy led her to the door. "If your tired you can turn in now. I'll take care of things."

"You don't want me to...?"

"No, go ahead and go to sleep."

Andy walked back into the living room. He saw Ephram, sitting on the couch, white as a ghost. He has to know something is up, Andy thought to himself. It's like he saw himself in the mirror with longer hair. Andy sat across from him, watching his son's every move. Finally, Ephram looked up, pain in his eyes.

"Who is she?" He managed to stammer out through his anger.

"Now Ephram, please hear me out before you get angry..."

"Get angry? I don't have to ask who that is. I can tell. Who did you cheat on Mom with? I can't believe you! She can't be much younger than me. And yet mom never knew did she?"

"Of course she knew Ephram, I..."

"She knew! She KNEW! And yet she stayed, even had Delia with you? Why was she so blind? I should have known. I bet you were glad when she died, so you could go back to the whore and kid you really loved..." Ephram was standing now, screaming his angry words in his father's face. Andy stood up.

"Ephram, stop it! I didn't cheat on your mother. Angel is your sister, full sister Ephram." It got very silent, all they could hear was the rain falling hard outside.

"How, what, what are you saying Dad.."

"She was born nine months and two weeks after you were. We decided to give her up Ephram. I wasn't making enough money, we didn't plan her, or even you, and we knew it would be for the best. She was very sick right after she was born, and your mother got attached. But in the end her adoptive parents took her home."

"Is that why you guys waited so long to have Delia? Because Mom was too heartbroken?"

Yes Ephram, that was part of it. When your mother died I wrote a letter to Mrs. Daniels, Angel's adoptive mother and told her. I knew at some point Angel would want to know about her real parents. That's the last contact I've had."

"But if she has adoptive parents, why did she show up in Everwood?"

"They died. She said she was sent here." Andy replied solemnly.

"Doesn't that seem just a little fishy to you? Don't you think you would have gotten a phone call or something?" Ephram said, raising his voice again.

"I'm gonna let her sleep tonight. We can figure out the details in the morning." Andy said, looking at his son. Ephram looked like he was ready to cry.

"How are we going to tell Delia?" He asked his father in a low, soft voice.

"I'll take care of that in the morning too. Why don't you go upstairs and get some rest."

"Sounds like a plan, and Dad?"

"Yes Ephram?"

"I'm sorry."

"Don't worry about it son."

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Good twist huh? Let me know what you think. Please Review!!! 


	3. The Browns

Chapter 3- The Brown's

Ephram woke up that morning, the past evening's events weighing heavy on his mind. He thought he was the first one awake, but as he came down the steps he saw her sitting at the piano. Ephram sat on the couch, not knowing what to say. It was her who spoke first.

"So I guess your Dad told you."

"Yeah. I guess he's your Dad too."

Angel didn't say anything as she brushed her fingers along the keys.

"You play?" Ephram asked, standing next to the piano.

"Alittle," she sat down and began to play a wonderful Mozart piece, from memory. When she finished Ephram looked at her. For the first time in his life he had heard someone else with the same natural talent on piano.

"Did you take lessons?"

"No, I just learned how to read the music in school and taught myself."

"You're good. I play too. Since I was four."

They were both silent. Yet nothing needed to be said.

"You want some breakfast?" She nodded and they walked into the kitchen.

Andy walked down the hallway nervously, not knowing how to explain to Delia about Angel. But when he opened the door to his youngest daughter's room, she wasn't there. He walked downstairs to find his children, all three of them, eating breakfast. Ephram's eyes caught his for a brief moment. Delia turned around to face her father.

"So Angel's really my sister?"

"Yes Delia, she is."

"Can we keep her?"

"Delia!" Both Ephram and Andy said it at the same time.

"Where are your manners young lady?" Andy said sternly.

"It's ok. I would want to know too if I was in her position. Am I staying Dr. Brown? I have no other options, other than to go back to New York. Which is okay, if you don't want me here."

"We need to talk before I make any decisions." Andy said, looking at his other two children, and at Angel, "You two better get to school." Ephram and Delia got up without saying a word, and were soon out the door. When Andy turned around to talk to Angel, she wasn't there. He heard the shower running upstairs.

"Oh well, I'll just have to talk to her when I get home from work." He thought, grabbing his coat off the rack. This would be a long day at the office.

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Will she get to stay? Read on to find out! Review Please! 


	4. Blood Thicker Than Water

Chapter Four- Blood Thicker Than Water

"Good morning Edna. Sorry I'm late." Dr. Brown said as he walked through the doors of his practice.

"No problem Doc. You got a couple of messages here. From some caseworker in New York, she said it was urgent." Edna said, handing him the piece of paper. He looked at it, then at her.

"I'll be in my office." Andy said, walking into the small room and shutting the door. He immediately dialed the number on the piece of paper.

"Hello, this is Dr. Andrew Brown; I'm returning the phone call from a Mrs. Callahan."

"I'm Maria Callahan. I was calling to see if you had any contact with the daughter you gave up for adoption 14 years ago...." He cut her off.

"You mean Angel? Yes, she showed up here last night. She said her parents were dead and that she was sent to Everwood."

"Dr. Brown, you of all people should see right through that story. Let me explain the details to you..."

Andy Brown could not remember when he had been more furious. He had been ready to take Angel in, open his home to the daughter he and his wife and given up years ago. But after what the caseworker told him, she would be lucky to be spending one more day there.

He stormed in the house to find her writing in a notebook on the couch. Angel looked up and saw the anger in his eyes, she immediately spoke.

"Look, it's not what you think. Just give me a chance to explain."

"Explain what? Explain that you broke into your caseworker's office and stole my address and then flew all the way out here? Explain why you made me believe that you were sent here, why didn't you tell me the truth in the first place?"

"Dr. Brown, I...."

"I was ready to open my home to you! Ready to explain to this God forsaken town where you came from, even though most of its residents wouldn't believe me anyway! But finding out that you broke the law to come here? Why did you do that? After all the charges that had been wiped clean in New York, you were given a new start and you threw it all away. Your caseworker said that now you'll probably end up in juvenile detention." He stopped when he saw the tears in her eyes.

"What else was I supposed to do? After my parents died I got passed from foster home to foster home. I was miserable! All I could think about is the man who had written my adoptive mother, saying that my birth mother had died. You know what else that letter said? It said that if I ever wanted to know my birth family I was welcome to contact you. So here I am. I didn't know what else to do, I don't have anywhere else to go," the tears were flowing now, and it broke Andy's heart. " You're a liar, just like the people back in New York. You never wanted to get in contact with me; it was an empty gesture. I'm not going back to New York, but I'm sure as HELL not staying here." She grabbed her notebook and shoved it into her bag. She went for her coat, but Andy stopped her, tears in his eyes as well.

"I meant what I said in that letter. I meant every word." Andy said, staring into her eyes, so much like his own. "But you have to go back to New York now. There's no stopping it. Your caseworker will be here first thing in the morning. I'm sorry Angel. If you would have told me all of this last night, I would have told your Mrs. Callahan that I wanted to file for custody."

She sat her bag down, wanting so badly to believe this man who had given her life. She knew the circumstances of her adoption. The family had an infant son; the father was still in medical school. They couldn't afford another child; much less one who was very sick at birth. "I guess that's the only way. I'll go back to New York tomorrow." Angel took her things into the spare bedroom, closing the door.

Angel did not come in for dinner that night. Andy thought it was for the best, so he could tell Delia and Ephram the truth about everything. He started with a slow and calm voice, telling both of his children all the details. When Andy finished, he noticed Ephram had that angered, "my life isn't fair" look in his eyes, the same look Angel had worn a few hours earlier. After Delia went to bed, Ephram cornered his father.

"There's nothing you can do? You can't tell me that there's no way to keep her here in Everwood." Ephram said, looking sternly at his father.

"I don't know Ephram, I really don't know. I'm going to talk to her caseworker tomorrow, that's the best I can do."

"But this caseworker is coming to get Angel, she's not just gonna change her mind and leave, is she? You have to call her back. Now, before it's too late."

"I can't do that Ephram, you know I can't. She's probably asleep; it just doesn't work that way..." he didn't get to finish.

"Maybe Angel was right; you don't really want her here. What if it was me huh? What if some caseworker wanted to take me back to New York. Wouldn't you do everything in your power to keep me here? It's the same thing. Mom wouldn't have wanted you to let her leave." Ephram said, staring Andy straight in the eyes.

"I didn't know you were so hot on having another sister around here. It seems to me that Angel would just be another person in this family for you to ignore!" Andy said, losing his control.

"It's just not right, sending her away like this. It's not easy losing a parent. We are all she has." Ephram replied calmly. This shocked Andy; he had been ready for a full-scale attack from his son.

"I don't think it can be done Ephram, honestly."

"Then you aren't trying hard enough." He replied, storming upstairs and slamming the door.

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What do you think? Let me know, the more reviews I get, the faster I update!!! 


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